Linking lost voices: reading 'The Dead'.

Abstract

The author presents an individual reading of James Joyce's short story. 'The Dead' from 'Dubliners'. Language evokes subjective responses and associations that become part of the depth of experience one finds in a book. The author describes how uses of language give the reader a sense of sharing the main character's experience. She focuses on nodal moments in the story, in which external and internal worlds intersect. Images focused on include those of seeing and touching, inside and outside, crossing gaps between worlds and the way in which these sensory events shift the character's knowledge of his internal objects. The metaphor of lost voices highlights the presence of the dead throughout the story. The main character's evolution from being in a constricted state to one of expanded self-awareness is discussed. Britton's concept of triangular space is used to describe the character's transformation at the story's conclusion.